Poetry: Brian Daly

Author of the Month

rattle the cage

trapped like a bear in a cage in the sun

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

father, daughter, mother, son

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

contracts, duty, expectation

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

king and country, faith and nation

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

blood and money, lies and greed

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

seven billion mouths to feed

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

exit the animals one by one

(rattle the cage, rattle the cage)

trapped like a bear in a cage in the sun

rattle the cage, channel the rage

pack up the prophets, silence the sage

break through the blindness, face the new age

rattle the cage, rattle the cage

***

earthling

before

age 

gender

colour

creed 

race

culture

nationality

or species

i am

first

and foremost

earthling

*** 

confessional

bless me reader

for i have sinned

i’ve shared the deepest

darkest thoughts within

my fears, my hopes, 

my heartaches, my delusions

hoping for some 

form of absolution

when inner demons

rise and give me hell

poetry is my

confessional

***

the weight of less

i’m suffocated

by the passing years

each breath i draw

takes just one more

from my allotted number

this weight of less

lies heavy on my chest

and leaves me literally

short of breath

draining my vitality

shaking my reality

grasping my mortality

gasping as i face

my certain death

***

give

let me feed

on hope and understanding

let me digest truth

let me savour

the spice of life

our different tastes

our complementary flavours

for there is no nourishment

in the hot air of rhetoric

the emptiness of lies

the bitterness of bigotry

fill the intestines of my mind

with all the juicy morsels

that bind us to each other

and this planet that we share

then i’ll have a life to live

and a shit to give

Bio: Brian Daly has been writing songs and poetry since he was eight years old. He studied creative writing under Ron Pretty, Rodney Hall, Kirpal Singh and Dianne Bates while completing his Creative Arts degree at Wollongong University. He has worked in the creative industries for over 30 years, as a writer, songwriter, musician, director, creative director and composer. He lives and works in Newcastle, Australia and releases snippets of poetry on instagram @thedalypoet.

Setu, July 2019